Device for manipulating rubber stock.



H. C. WAGNER.

DEVICE FOR MANIPULATING RUBBER STOCK.

APPLICATION FILED JULY I0. 1916.

Lg8g 3gqe Patented Dec. 31, 1918.

WITNESS: l/VVE/VTOR Henry 6. Way/ear,

///6' ll TTOR/VEY L ran snares narnn r onnron HENRY C. WAGNER, OF WOONSOCKET, RHODE ISLAND, ASSIGNOR T0 WOOhISOCKET RUBBER GQMPANY, A CORPORATION OF BHUDE ISLAND.

DEVICE FOR MANIPULATING RUBBER, STOCK.

Application filed July 10, 1918.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, HENRY C. WAGNER, a

citizen of the United States, residing at Woonsocket, county of Providence, State of Rhode Island, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Devices for Manipulating Rubber Stock, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

This invention relates to devices for manipulating rubber stock, and has for an object to provide apparatus by means of which saving of labor and waste in manipulating the stock is accomplished.

In the manufacture of rubber articles, such for instance as boots or shoes, it is customary to cut a calendered rubber sheet into pieces eight or ten feet long and place them between the fabric leaves of a book or frame to keep them from sticking together. This operation requires the serv-. ices of two unskilled laborers. The book or frame is carried to the place where the rubber is to be out according to patterns, and therethe pieces are removed by an operator who cuts them into the desired shapes and sizes. By the use of the present invention, the above mentioned unskilled laborers are dispensed with and furthermore the usual waste of stock in the form of left over portions at the ends of each of said pieces, is obviated.

Briefly, the invention comprises a stock reel, a liner strip roll, and a truck upon which the reel and the roll are mounted. The rubber stock in a continuous sheet is wound on the reel as it is being discharged from the calender, the liner strip being simultaneously wound between the convolutions of the stock on the reel. The truck is then drawn to the cutting table where the operator unwinds the stock from the reel as he needs it, the liner strip being simultaneously wound back on to the liner strip roll.

The invention can be readily understood from the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawing, in which v Figure 1 is a front elevation of apparatus constructed in accordance with the invention.

Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the parts shown in Fig. 1,.

Referring now to the drawing in which like characters of reference designate simi- Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 31, 1918.

Serial no. 108,305.

lar parts, 10 designates a wheeled truck. Mounted upon a suitable frame 11, rising from the truck, are a reel 12 and a liner strip roll 13, the respective axles 1 1 and 15 of the reel and roll being mounted in suitable bearings 16 and 17 which permit of the reel and roll'being rotated in unison in either direction. The reel is rotated counter-clockwise to wind the sheet rubber stock 18 thereon, and during such rotation the liner stri 19 is unwound from the roll 13 and woun up on the reel between the convolutions of rubber stock. A band brake 20 frictionally engages a disk 21 fixed to the shaft 15 of the liner strip roll and retards rotation of the roll so that the liner strip is kept taut while passing on to the reel..

In order that wrinkles in the liner strip will be smoothed out, a bar 22 is positioned on the frame 11 between the liner strip roll and a guide roller 23 over which the liner strip passes on the way to the reel. The bar 22 is provided with upwardly diverging ribs 24 which intercept the liner strip and smooth the same from the center toward the edges thus effectively removing the wrinkles.

The reel is intermittently turned clockwise to unwind the stock from the reel as needed. The liner strip is wound back upon the liner roll 13 simultaneously with the unwinding of the rubber stock from the reel. and to accomplish this, the liner strip roll is positively driven from the reel by means of a chain drive 25 and gear train 26, this mechanism connecting together the shafts 14: and 15 of the reel and roll as shown. Upon the reel being turned, the liner strip roll will be driven at a sufficient speed to wind up the liner strip as fast as delivered from the reel.

The liner strip must be again smoothed out and freed from wrinkles while being rewound onto the liner strip roll, and for this purpose the above mentioned bar 22 is provided opposite the ribs 24 with ribs 24 which diverge downwardly. The bar has square ends 27 mounted in sockets 28 so that it may be reversed to present the ribs 24 to the liner strip and thus again smooth the stripfrom the center toward the sides and free it from wrinkles as it passes back on to the liner strip roll.

'While the stock is being wound on to the reel there is no necessity for the liner strip r011 being positively driven. Therefore, to

29 which is feathered on the shaft and is equipped with an integral sleeve 30 against which bears a nut 31 that is threaded on to the end of the shaft 15. Upon the nut 31 being backed out, the friction disk releases said gear and permits it to idle on the shaft 15.

In operation, the apparatus is drawn up to the calender and positioned so that. the raw rubber stock will pass on to thereel direct from the .calender. The end of the liner strip together with the end of the rubber stock is attached to the reel and the reel is then preferably turned manually so that the stock will be wound thereon in a continuous length as fast as discharged from the calender. The liner strip is simultaneously unwound from its roll as fast as required by the reel and is introduced between the convolutions of the rubber stock. The rubber stock is fed on to the reel with its smooth side uppermost just as it comes from the calender. After loading of the reel, the

truck isrdrawn to the place where the stock "is to be out. In unloading, the reel is manually turned clockwise and the rubber stock is drawn off on the opposite side of the reel from that which it passed on to the reel so that it is delivered upon the cutters table with its rough side uppermost. As the rubber stock is being drawn off from the reel, the chain and gear train,- which have .been previously moved to operative position by advancing the nut 31, actuate the liner strip roll .to take up the liner strip, the friction disk 29 slipping sufliciently to permit the roll being rotated only fast enough to wind .up the liner strip without unduly tensioning prising a stock reel,- a liner strip roll, a liner strip adapted to pass to and fro between the reel and roll, driving means connecting the roll and the reel for driving the former by the latter, means for throwing said driving means into operative and inoperative positions, and a member having a plurality of sides formed with divergent ribs, the ribs on sides. I

3. A device of theclass described, comprising a stock reel, aliner strip roll, a liner prising a stock reel, a liner'strip roll, a liner strip on theroll, a portable support for the reel and the'roll, the reel and the roll being rotatable simultaneously in either direction, and means for interce ting the liner strip when passing in either direction between the reel and the roll and freeing the strip from wrinkles.

5. A device of the class described, comprising a stock roll, a liner strip roll, a liner strip on the roll, the reel and the roll being rotatable in unison in either direction, means whereby the roll is driven in one direction by the reel, means'for permitting the first named means to idle while the reel is being turned in the opposite direction, and means for intercepting the liner strip while passing in either direction between the roll and the reel and freeing the strip from wrinkles.

6. A device ,of the class described, comprising a stock reel, a liner strip roll, a liner strip on the reel, the reel and roll being retatable in unison in either direction, means whereby the roll is driven in one dlrection by the reel, means for permitting the first I named means to idle while'the reel is-being turned in the opposite direction, and a member having a plurality of sides formed with divergent ribs, the ribs on at least one of said sides being oppositely divergent from the ribs on another of said sides.

Signed at Woonsocket, R. 1., this fifth day 7 of July 1916.

HENRY o. WAGNER. 

